BIMSTEC : POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA Source: The ...

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BIMSTEC : POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIAAuthor(s): Smita ShrivastavaSource: The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec., 2005), pp. 973-988Published by: Indian Political Science AssociationStable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41856178Accessed: 10-05-2020 05:21 UTC

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The Indian Journal of Political Science

Vol. LXVI, No. 4, Oct.-Dec., 2005

BIMSTEC : POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR

INDIA

Smita Shrivastava

BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a prudent extension of India 's 'Look East 'policy. Formed in 1997 it consists of five countries of South Asia and two of South East Asia at the rim of Bay of Bengal. It is an attempt to tap the syneigies of land and maritime

contiguity in yet another geo-economic setting. First BIMSTEC Summit was held in Thailand in July 2004. These countries cooperate in sectors like trade and investment, transport and communication, energy, technology, poverty alleviation, counter terrorism. SM Es. rural area development etc. For India, membership of BIMSTEC implies closer ties with its eastern neighbours, offsetting the influence of China in the region, sidelining Pakistan, access to ASEAN, security, economic prosperity due to FTA and clout in regional and international affairs. This grouping consisting of 1.3 billion people can eventually pave the way for a larger Asian community and make the 2 1 st centuiy the century of Asia.

The hallmark of contemporary politics is the proliferation of

regional groupings of varied nature and scope. The changes that have

taken place in the international field in the early nineties have created a

new political and economic context for India's regional diplomacy. The

challenge for India is to initiate a regional policy based on shared goals

and compatible philosophies. Regional framework is being widely accepted

as a strategy for meeting the challenges of the present unjust world

economic order and overcoming internal structural inadequacies.

India has been late in recognizing the importance of regional

organizations. For India the first attempt at regional organization of any

importance was the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation) formed in 1985. It comprised of the seven nations of South

Asia viz, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and

Bangladesh. But SAARC was plagued by perennial problems caused by

poor Indo-Pak relations, India's uneasy relations with Bangladesh and Sri

Lanka and so on. The next important attempt was BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal


The Indian Journal of Political Science 974

Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). It was a

well-planned strategy of India and a prudent extension of its 4 look east'

policy. In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss the achievements

of BIMSTEC and explore its long-term implications for India.

BIMSTEC was formed in June 1997.1n 1994, Thailand took the

initiative to explore economic cooperation on sub regional basis involving

the countries of South east Asia and South Asia around the Bay of Bengal. 1

After a number of Inter- Ministerial Consultations and with the active

support of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ESCAP, a regional

economic forum was formed in 1997 comprising of Bangladesh, India,

Sri Lanka and Thailand. At that time it was called BIST-EC i.e. Bangladesh

India Sri Lanka Thailand Economic Cooperation. In December of the same

year Myanmar joined this organization and then a 4M' was added to it. It

became BIMST-EC. It comprised the countries at the rim of Bay of Bengal.

BIMST-EC's inauguration was a low-key affair in comparison to SAARC.

There were only ministerial level meetings for several years. It was in the

year 2004 that its first Summit took place in Bangkok in July. It was the

first overseas visit of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since

he took office after the May 2004 general elections. In February 2004,

Nepal and Bhutan also had become members of BIMSTEC. The acronym

no longer represented the full membership of the organization. Therefore,

during its first Summit it was decided that the letters of the nomenclature

should stand for Bay of Bengal Initiative For Multi Sectoral Technical

And Economic Cooperation rather than for initials of the names of member

countries. So now this group has five countries of South Asia and two of

South East Asia. It is important to note that the two countries of South

Asia that are not its members are Pakistan and Maldives.

Bims tec was formed at the time when the process of globalisation

was sweeping the world. India's economy was also opening up. World

scene had changed tremendously. Soviet Union had disintegrated and the

cold war came to an end. Communism as an ideology was being challenged.

European Union was getting stronger by the day. With the end of Cold


BIMSTEC : Political Implications for India 975

War, the nonaligned movement lost its relevance. China had emerged as a

strong economy. WTO had been formed in 1995. S A ARC, the South Asian

regional organization, which was formed in 1985, was not making any

headway due to mutual dissensions and mistrust of member countries.

This was broadly the international and regional scenario when BIMSTEC

was being conceived and formed in 1997.

A Ministerial meeting was held in Bangkok from June 4-6, 1997,

where the new sub regional economic grouping was formally launched. In

a declaration issued, the principles, scope and institutional mechanisms

of the organization were outlined. The detailed plan of action, areas of

cooperation etc were covered in a concept paper. Initially BIMSTEC

identified six sectors for cooperation viz., trade and investment, technology,

transport and communication, energy, tourism and fisheries. It was an

attempt to tap the synergies of land and maritime contiguity in yet another

geo-economic setting. The people of this region had close cultural and

commercial ties throughout history. Close proximity meant that the business

communities maintained active contacts with each other, in addition to

cultural and social interactions and people to people contacts.

It was hoped that the inter- regional grouping will serve as a bridge

between the five SAARC countries and two ASEAN countries and would

have a greater potential to increase the trade among member countries by

taking advantage of their geographical location in the region of Bay of

Bengal and the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean.

The Bay of Bengal community also creates options other than the

SAARC in pursuing India's interests in regional economic integration. This

does not necessarily mean that BIMSTEC stands in opposition to SAARC.

In fact, the Bay of Bengal community could complement the efforts at

SAARC to promote a free trade area in South Asia. The BIMSTEC could

also act as a spur to SAARC on economic cooperation.2

The BIMSTEC process marks a new phase in India's 'Look East'



policy. The Congress government led by Mr. P.V. Narsimha Rao launched

this initiative towards South East Asia in the early 1990's. Mr. Vajpayee

deepened the scope and substance of India's 'look east' policy to cover

much of Asia, including the ASEAN, China and Japan. The first segment

of 'Look East' policy focused on commercial relations and institutional

links with Asia. In the second phase of the 'Look East' policy, India is

aiming at political partnerships, physical connectivity through road and

rail links, free trade arrangements and defence cooperation.

BIMSTEC Cooperation Sectors :

During its eight years of existence the BIMSTEC countries have

cooperated in a number of areas. BIMSTEC members recognized the

importance to create air, sea and land linkages. They include the open sky

policy in Bimstec, development of roads between Thai-Myanmar-India

and Thai-Myanmar-Bangladesh which will facilitate land transport from

the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea. In terms of Sea transport, there

are the coastal shipping project and India's proposal to support a feasibility

study on Tavoy's deep seaport. Railway links between India-Myanmar

and Thailand is also a priority. A stronger and desirable intra- regional

trade is contingent upon improved transport network among BIMSTEC

countries.

Technical cooperation and human resource development :

BIMSTEC countries aim at developing human resources in the

region in order to build knowledge based economy. In the sixth Bimstec

ministerial meeting, Thailand offered 100 training scholarships to Bimstec

personnel while India also offered 150 of such.

BIMSTEC Business Travel Facilitation : '

Member countries agreed to promote the long term multiple entry

visas to facilitate business travel within Bimstec. Meanwhile Thailand's

initiative of issuing the Bimstec Business Travel Card (BBTC) or Visa

sticker was accepted and the project is being studied by the Bimstec Centre.


BIM STEC : Politicai Implications for India 977

Other Cooperative Sectors :

Current important projects in the energy sectors are the development

of regional hydrocarbon and hydropower energy infrastructure (natural

gas) energy information center and energy trading network between

members. The region combines countries having large Gas reserves beyond

their short and medium term domestic requirements, such as Myanmar

and probably also Bangladesh and those with immensely untapped potential

of hydropower such as Nepal and Bhutan and net energy importing

countries like India. It has been realized that a comprehensive framework

for regional resource cooperation going beyond simple energy trade

relations and linking the region in an energy community is desirable for

fully exploiting the potential of energy cooperation in the region.

Key activities in the drugs and pharmaceuticals sector are joint

research and development of medicine from herbs, information exchange,

product development and prevention of illegal products. In the horticulture

and floriculture sector, the main issues are the Plan of Action, research

and development of horticulture and floriculture products, tea and coffee

as well as information exchange.

Cooperation with the private sector :

BIMSTEC encouraged cooperation between the government and

the private sector, including private participation in various projects. The

BIMSTEC Chamber of Commerce was founded on 30 November 2003 in

order to coordinate between the private sectors in BIMSTEC member

countries.

BIMSTEC is a regional grouping that encompasses about 1 .3 billion

people and a GDP of about US $ 750 billion. The members are at different

levels of economic and industrial development and share different natural

resource endowments. Hence the complementarities between them are

substantial. There are wide income disparities across the countries that

border the Bay of Bengal.



Thailand tops the ranks of the average income per citizen, with a per capita

income of 6,400 U.S. dollars in 2003, followed by Sri Lanka, with a per

capita income of 3,180 U.S. dollars per year, and then India, with 2,840

U.S. dollars per year.

The rest hovered with a per capita income below 2,000 U.S dollars,

with Burma, renamed Myanmar by the ruling military regime, at the bottom,

with a 1,027 U.S. dollars per capita income.

On the other hand, India towers over the BIMSTEC members with

its economic boom. Through the first quarter of the year 2004, the Indian

economy grew by 8.2 percent, which analysts say is the fastest for that

country in 15 years.

Full potential of intra regional trade remains untapped due to tariff

and non tariff barriers, poor communication and transport links, lack of

information about the supply capabilities, among other barriers. So far

the intra regional trade turnover in BIMSTEC is quite small. It is only

about small percentage of the overall trade of the BIMSTEC countries. A

lot of interest has been shown in this organization and thinktanks like

EXIM Bank have done studies in this regard to explore and discuss the

potential in this regard.

In 2003, India's trade with BIMSTEC was US$ 3.7 billion. This is

only about 3.4 to 4 % of our global trade. According to 2001 figures,

Bangladesh - only 10.14% of its trade was with BIMSTEC countries,

India had a figure of 4.12 %, Myanmar 27.63 %, Nepal 43.09%, Sri Lanka

8.33%, Thailand 2.19%. So apart from Nepal and to some extent Myanmar,

the trade of other countries amongst the region is very small and therefore

it could greatly expand.

In February 2004 BIMSTEC ministers signed the framework

agreement for free trade arrangement. The draft framework agreement for

BIMSTEC FTA proposes a fast track of liberalization between 2006 and

2011 and a normal track between 2007 and 2017, depending upon the



level of development.3 Besides the liberalization of trade in goods the

draft framework agreement also proposes liberalization of trade in services

and investment albeit on positive list basis. One may argue that India has

now got a framework for trade liberalization with the South Asian countries

included in BIMSTEC viz., Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

These countries are bonded together by S AFT A also. Besides these, we

have bilateral trade agreements with Sri Lanka. We have bilateral FTA

with Thailand also. So what does BIMSTEC bring to India? BIMSTEC

FTA is much more comprehensive in scope covering trade in goods as

well as services and investment than S AFTA that confines only to trade in

goods. More than the comprehensive coverage, it's the greater potential

of BIMSTEC to unleash industrial restructuring and provide connectivity

to the geographically contiguous region on India's eastern border that

provides its rationale.4 The three most advanced members India, Sri Lanka

and Thailand are committed to trade liberalization by 20 1 2, with the others

following within five years. The signing of FTA in the Thai resort province

of Phuket early in 2004 was almost scuppered by the late withdrawal of

Bangladesh because of a row over compensation for lost tariff revenue. It

later signed the deal. Bangladesh joined the framework Agreement on 25

June 2004. A very important feature of the grouping is its "three plus one"

policy, which allows any three of its members along with a fourth to

undertake a project where the rest are not willing to participate.5 This is

an attempt to remove the handicaps of SAFTA.

1st SUMMIT:

Thailand hosted the first summit on 30-3 1 July 2004 in accordance

with the agreement reached in the 5th Bimstec ministerial meeting on 20

Dec. 2002 in Colombo, when the Sri Lankan PM raised an idea that it was

time to elevate Bimstec meeting to the level of leaders' Summit, in order

to demonstrate their strong will towards the common goal.

During the Summit all the leaders enthusiastically exchanged their

views on a wide range of issues. The PM of Thailand stressed the necessity



of visible progress in all the six areas of cooperation. Leaders agreed with

the Thai PM to construct a regional map of tourist destinations and India

offered to host a round table ministerial meeting that allows participation

of the private sector.

Also on this occasion, the leaders discussed some new issues such

as counter- terrorism cooperation, where the PM of Thailand emphasized

the importance of mutual trust by which leaders can contact one another

by telephone in order to eliminate protocol and formalities. India suggested

a network of intelligence exchange and capacity building.

The meeting addressed the importance of poverty alleviation. The

PM of Thailand suggested that the measures applied must focus on the

poor, namely cutting expenses, increasing income and working

opportunities. In this connection Thailand is prepared to provide credit

line to BIMSTEC countries for importing Thai agricultural products.

The summit discussed the need for protection of biodiversity in

order to use the regional resources efficiently, bearing in mind the legal

protection. Besides the meeting agreed to set up a network of national

centers of excellence to promote traditional medicine and generic drugs

for the poor. Thailand offered to be the lead country in this area of

cooperation. It was also decided that Summit would be held roughly every

two years on voluntary basis, India offered to host the next summit in

2006.

The Summit Declaration highlights the founding objectives and

principles of BIMSTEC which focuses on development of regional

potentials, progress in the existing 6 sectors of cooperation and expansion

of new areas such as public health, protection of biodiversity and traditional

wisdom, education, rural area development, SMEs, construction,

environment, information technology, biological technology,

meteorological research and mitigation and management of natural disasters.



The declaration also emphasizes the importance of early completion

of negotiation on the BIMSTEC free trade area, the necessity of

cooperation against terrorism and transnational crimes, as well as other

transborder problems such as HIV-AIDS and other public health issues.

The Declaration stresses the importance of people to people contact and

the role of private sector by agreeing to facilitate travel within the region

through the BIMSTEC Business Travel Card and /or BIMSTEC Visa.

During the Summit the leaders noted with satisfaction BIMSTEC's

achievements so far, including the signing of the framework agreement

for a BIMSTEC Free Trade Area, the launch of Visit BIMSTEC Year

2004-2005 and the year long Plan of Action on tourism, the establishment

of the BIMSTEC Chamber of Commerce, the 1 st BIMSTEC Youth Football

Tournament held in Phuket, the establishment of the BIMSTEC Centre in

Bangkok and a Biomass gasifier plant in Myanmar and pledged to move

forward with renewed vigour.

Recognising the need to improve health care and the involvement

of the private sector, the leaders agreed that these experiences would be

taken up at the Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Eradication to be hosted

by Bangladesh. Bhutan's offer to host a Ministerial meeting on Culture

was welcomed.

At the Summit, the Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra issued a rallying

call to Asian leaders to build their economies and become more than a

'small blip' on the radar screens of the rest of the world.6 During the

Summit, the Indian Prime Minister announced four proposals in his speech.

The proposals are as follows:

India to set up a BIMSTEC Centre on Weather and Climate in

New Delhi. India will also be willing to share its expertise in remote sensing

for agriculture, environment and disaster management.

India to host a ministerial conference on energy cooperation next

year to give an impetus to BIMSTEC members' joint efforts in this area.



India to give 150 scholarships from next year under the information

technology economic cooperation programme for BIMSTEC countries.

These will be in addition to the 150 scholarships offered by India at the

ministerial meeting in Phuket in February 2004.

India to give 30 scholarships in the field of traditional systems of

medicine to enable a productive partnership among BIMSTEC countries.

Except Myanmar and Thailand all other countries in the grouping

were linked to each other through SAARC also. BIMSTEC reinforced

these ties further. Although only one Summit has taken place in eight

years but Ministers keep meeting and try to promote their mutual interests

by forging cooperation in various areas of importance to each other. They

are busy in the follow up action. They are implementing the decisions

taken in the previous Summit. The first meeting of the joint working group

of BIMSTEC on counter terrorism and transnational crime was held in

New Delhi on 10 Dec'04. It worked out programmes of cooperation in 13

areas.7 These include enhancing information and intelligence sharing

regarding terrorism and transnational crime, taking effective measures

against individuals, groups and entities involved in terrorism.

The tourism ministers of BIMSTEC countries met in New Delhi

on 22 Feb'05 and finalized a roadmap to double regional tourism within

the next five years through co branding, aggressive promotion and product

diversification. They also set up a $ 70,000 tourism fund to integrate

national efforts in the sector. Announcing the joint declaration at Kolkata

at the end of the 3 day BIMSTEC round table and workshop Union Minister

of state for tourism Renuka Choudhury said the fund would be used to

take up joint publicity and promotion of tourist destinations and to establish

a tourism information center in India for production and collateral publicity

material. The proposed fund will be created with an initial annual

contribution of $10,000 by each BIMSTEC country while the Asian

Development Bank has agreed to provide technical and financial support

to help BIMSTEC develop and promote tourism sector in South Asia.8



One thing that BIMSTEC has been mercifully spared is the potential

negative impact of intra-region political acrimony we experience in

SAARC.9

Implications for India :

At the time of its formation six areas were identified for cooperation,

but now all the current problems whether emanating from globalisation or

those which are peculiar to the Third world are covered by its range. As

far as India is concerned the organization has several long-term

implications. India seeks to pursue its own interests through this forum.

Two South East Asian countries, Thailand and Myanmar have been closely

bonded to India for the first time. Due to Thailand's pro US policies,

India desisted from maintaining close relations with Thailand for a long

time but when during the NDA government of Vajpayee, India's relations

with US improved, it had a good impact on India- Thailand relations also.

Since then the trade between the two countries has improved. Both the

countries have even signed a bilateral free trade agreement. During the

first BIMSTEC Summit in July 2004 the leaders of the two countries met

and sorted out the thorny issues and finalized an agreement on Rules of

origin, paving the way for FT A implementation.

Under the first phase of the FTA agreement called the 'Early Harvest

Scheme' in the first year, tariffs would be reduced by 50 % on 82 items

and in the second year by 75%. From September 1, 2006 both countries

would have duty free regime on all these items. The second phase of the

FTA would begin from then onwards and the two countries would have

free trade regime by 2010. This would be second such Free Trade

Agreement for India. The first one was with Sri Lanka four years ago.

The second South Eastern member of BIMSTEC is Myanmar. India

has a 1 670 Km long land border with Myanmar along the strategic Eastern

frontier.10 Strategically for India's national security a friendly regime in

Myanmar is vital. However with the rise of Myanmar 's military regime,

the two countries fell apart, China assiduously cultivated Myanmar and



built a close relationship since early 70's.

The need to counter the Chinese influence in Myanmar, the growing

economic clout of ASEAN and the national security interest of north east

have compelled India to have a rethink on its attitude to the military regime.

The NDA coalition in Delhi took the initiative in the year 2000 to impart

more meaning and content to the relationship between the two countries

as a part of its iook east' policy. Since then, much progress has been

made at various levels- military cooperation, stepping up of bilateral trade,

improving the land links, IT cooperation etc. Myanmar is rich in gas.

ONGC, Videsh and GAIL along with Korean corporations Daewoo and

Kogas are exploring the A-l block off the Rakhine coast of Myanmar in

Northern Bay of Bengal. Myanmar is the second largest of India's

neighbours and the largest on our eastern flank. An unfriendly Myanmar

hosting foreign naval presence would be a grave threat to India's security.

Myanmar has a big border with China in the North contiguous with the

Sino- Indian disputed border. It acts as a buffer between India's North

Eastern States and the Southern Provinces of China. Myanmar even under

Army rule and Chinese pressures did not allow anti-India activity from its

soil.

For India, BIMSTEC is a springboard to ASEAN. The Indian

leadership viewed ASEAN as an American "imperial surrogate" while

ASEAN dubbed India as "the surrogate of the Soviet Union". 11 It is only

after the collapse of Soviet Union, that India's efforts to improve relations

with ASEAN started materializing. Without the distorting prism of Cold

War the two began to view each other in a more constructive way. India's

perceptions should go beyond the confines of SAARC if it were to reap

the benefits out of the economic potential of this region and to establish

itself as a major power to promote peace and stability in the region.12

India's attitude towards the ASEAN during the early years was ambivalent,

but not hostile. India became a sectoral partner of ASEAN in late 1991 in

the core sectors of trade investment and tourism. India was upgraded as



full dialogue partner in the fifth ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in Dec. 1 995.

In July 1996 India was invited to join the ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum).

It helped India in its role in promoting peace and stability in the region as

well as to put India on par with the Western nations and China vis-à-vis

regional security. According to Dr, Manmohan Singh, the ASEAN nations

along with China, Japan, South Korea and India could create an economic

community comprising nearly half the world's population. It would be

larger than the EU in terms of income and bigger than the NAFTA in

terms of trade.13

The northeastern states of India have felt marginalized since a long

time. In fact the problem of insurgency in these states has been an outcome

of this feeling. BIMSTEC membership implies more attention to the

Northeastern states of India. Free trade and physical connectivity in the

region will end the "remoteness" of the North East, accelerate growth and

create better conditions to address the problems of insurgency in the region.

The BIMSTEC is nothing but a re-integration of the markets and

hinterlands served at the height of its glory. Its commercial flows rise

from the free trade arrangements agreed within SAARC and BIMSTEC.

The Left front Government in Kolkata has an unprecedented opportunity

to accelerate the level of not just West Bengal but the entire eastern part

of the subcontinent. The North East can become the center of a new

integrated economic space encompassing South and South East Asia. This

is a very natural region for integration. There is geographical contiguity

among the members. The objective of BIMSTEC is to explore all these

possibilities to the fullest to see how we can exploit the synergies and the

complementarities that exist in this region for mutual benefits. India is

the second largest Asian country both demographically and geographically.

Cooperation between India and these countries is a necessary prerequisite

for the 21st cent, to become the century of Asia.14

With BIMSTEC, India is in a better position to tackle Chinese

ambitions. Chinese foreign policy in the region seems to be designed to



prevent India from emerging as a rival Asian power. Peace and calm along

the border has remained hostage to China's sweet will. Chinese assistance

to build the military might of Pakistan as a counterweight against India

continues unabated. China's importance has increased after the collapse

of Soviet Union. Military threat from North receding, China's external

security environment has further stabilized and become relatively peaceful.

Today China feels confident that no major economic power can afford to

lose its big market with its great potential. China is India's major natural

geo-strategic rival. China became the benchmark against which India's

own international status could be assessed. China's membership of UN

Security Council and deference accorded to it by US set the standard for

how India would like to be treated. China's relationship with Pakistan

with its military nuclear and missile dimensions is one of China's means

of keeping India from being completely confident of security. Sino- Pak

security ties remain strong. BIMSTEC has helped India in sidelining Pakistan.

Foreign policies are structured to further a nation's national interests

and strategic goals.15 For many years after independence, India's foreign

policy admirably served its national interests. It gave India an international

profile larger than warranted by its economic strength and military power.

Today India aspires for permanent seat in UN Security Council. With the

support of BIMSTEC and ASEAN countries India's claim for permanent

membership of Security Council becomes strong. During the BIMSTEC

Summit, Dr. Manmohan Singh underlined the need for reforms in the

United Nations and the expansion of the UN Security Council for which

India has been lobbying for years. The Indian Prime Minister Dr.

Manmohan Singh said, "A global order, which is better represented and

more responsive to the needs of our times, must include the reform of the

United Nations and restructuring of the Security Council". 16 As a member

of BIMSTEC India's leverage to negotiate its interests in WTO increases

manifold. The BIMSTEC's objectives are same as those of WTO except

that it seeks to establish a much more comprehensive free trade area through



deeper and substantial sector coverage of services and an open and

competitive investment regime. Liberalisation of trade in goods is based

on the negative list while services is on the positive list.

The combat against international terrorism presents an immense

challenge. As a member of BIMSTEC, India's capacity to deal with the

grave problem of terrorism is boosted. India can easily adopt a multi -

pronged approach to deal with this problem.

India has now got one more forum to cooperate with its neighbours.

India is judged by the world often through the prism of the perception of

its neighbours. Adverse relations with neighbours will continue to pull it

back in its pursuit of playing its rightful role in the comity of nations.

Besides relations with neighbours impinge directly on India's security -

both military and nonmilitary. India's neighbours are also its best and

natural partners for economic cooperation. BIMSTEC accelerates the pace

of economic and social development, promotes material and collective

self-reliance and furthers the cause of peace, progress and stability in the

region and the world. It is time India should become a vigorous player in

international politics and not remain on the periphery. BIMSTEC takes

India nearer to this objective.

References:

1 . Rajesh Mehta, Establishment of Free Trade Arrangement Among

BIMSTEC Countries : Some Issues in RIS - DP# 23/2002 , Jan

2002.

2. C Raja Mohan, A Foreign Policy for the East, The Hindu, July 1 6,

2004.

3. Nagesh Kumar, Towards A Bay of Bengal Community, The

Financial Express, Februry 1 1, 2004

4. Ibid

5. Brig Gen.Shadul Alam Khan ndc.psc.(Retd) BIMSTEC should

be more than a small blip in Defence and Strategic Affairs, The



Daily Star

6. The Himalayan Times, Kathmandu, August 1, 2004.

7. http://www.diplomatist.com Wither BIMSTEC, Dr.Katti

8. The Business Line, Februry 26, 2005

9. Brig Gen. Shahedul Alam Khan , op.cit.

10. Col.R Hariharan (Retd) Taking a re-look at India-Myanmar

Relations, South Asia Analysis Group (Paper No. 1141), Oct. 11,

2004

11. C.S. Kuppuswamy India's Policy- looking Eastward, South Asia

Analysis Group ,( Paper No. 176), December 27, 2004

12. Ibid,

13. Anjana Pasricha India Promotes Idea of Free Trade within East,

South Asia, news VOA.com, October 24, 2004

14. Indian Foreign Policy : Challenges and Prospects, Presentation at

Geneva Forum by H.E. Mr. Kapil Sibbal,the then Foreign Secretary

of India, January 23, 2003

15. Subhash Kapila India- Myanmar Strategic Partnership : Indian

Imperatives, South Asia Analysis Group, ( Paper No. 197) 2001

16. The Tribune, Chandigarh, August 1, 2004


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